Erin Sexton, 2014

Between ritual and experiment, phase space is an audio/visual performance wherein I search for emergent sonic phenomena, trans-physical resonance, and distortions in space-time. A feedback network of tactile electronics interfaces with the chemistry of electrolysis, using salt solutions as signal processors while transforming their molecular structure. Perception is expanded as a live microscope video feed is merged with the stroboscopic symmetries of the future salt crystals that will form.

Intervening minimally, I tune and combine simple analog audio circuits, which allows for self-organized complexity to emerge, immediate and raw. An array of sensors creates bio-physical feedback between different states of matter and energy, the process amplified and sonified. Fragile and chaotic, I hope to accidentally create a metaphysical microphone, receiving transmissions from the electromagnetic beyond. These ephemeral phenomena are embedded within matter, their signals modifying the base structure of the salt solution, which is then left to crystallize.

However alchemical, my work resists mysticism, finding its ground in experimental physics and embodied cosmology, aiming to bridge the gap between theory and experience, intensifying wonder in the everyday.

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Bio

Erin Sexton
http://erinsexton.com
Canada

Montreal-based artist Erin Sexton explores matter, energy, space, and time through sound, performance, installation, and video. Playing between theoretical (meta)physics and experimental (al)chemistry, her raw post-minimalist approach embodies immanence through an active vulnerability. With analog electronics, crystal oscillations, electromagnetic fields, and electro-chemical improvisation she creates direct links between lived experience and the processes of nature, drawing us into contact with the micro-macro cosmos. Sexton has presented her performance and installation work in festivals and galleries across North America and Europe, released several albums, and is featured on multiple compilations. She is a member of the Perte-de-Signal artist collective, nocinema.org, FÜNF, Ænth, and often collaborates in improvisation contexts.